


Making Waves

by angelica



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Accidental Kid Fic!!, Alternate Universe - Lawyers, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 17:58:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7371898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelica/pseuds/angelica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was a time not so long ago when Abigail Griffin hated Marcus Kane with all her being and found it hard to describe the full extent of that hatred. Now, after a decade of knowing him, she is not so sure if she ever really hated him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

She gives up on work and instead eyes him as he works at his end of the large meeting table, sleeves rolled up, jacket discarded on another chair, his head down, his thick, brown hair falling over his dark brown eyes that scan the words of the agreement they are both examining.

There was a time not so long ago when Abigail Griffin hated Marcus Kane with all her being and found it hard to describe the full extent of that hatred. Now, after a decade of knowing him, as she sits away from him, she is not so sure if she ever really hated him.

They were hired by Ark Associates at the same time, both fresh out of law school. She remembered that during the firm's orientation he was quiet and nice, not talking to others much. She thought, even as a married woman, that he looked very handsome in his sharp suits and with his dark gelled hair. During that week-long orientation, he was the one who helped her with doors, sat down with her during lunches providing pleasant conversation and explained things she didn't quite understand about their health insurance. After the week ended, for a long time, he would become someone completely different.

It was during their first case together that he showed his true colors. It was a rather simple case that was supposed to allow them to showcase their talents and prove themselves as worthy of being hired by one of the leading law firms in the country. The nice man she met at the orientation with kind eyes and soft words was replaced by someone who opposed to whatever that came out of her mouth, someone who tried so hard to get into the good graces of their client and their bosses, ignoring all the emotional repercussions of the case. They argued about everything during meetings, reaching an agreement only when their boss Thelonious Jaha intervened before things got ugly and they lost the case.

Her first experience of being colleagues with Marcus Kane taught her that they were too different and would always butt heads. While she was pragmatic and emotional, he was aloof and conniving. Through trial and error, it became a thing in the office to never pair them up for cases again for the sake of the company and other people working there. Instead they worked their own cases, becoming the best lawyers the firm had in their respective areas. For three years they worked separately, antagonizing each other only during staff meetings.

The man who is now sipping from his third coffee of the night is no longer that same man; she has seen with it her own eyes and knows it well in her heart. They have both gone through experiences in their lives that shaped them into the two people working at two am at a vacated law firm to find something, anything to use as leverage against the hostile takeover of their law firm to save the jobs of their friends and keep the firm afloat. Eight years ago, Marcus Kane would have never done such a thing.

Eight years ago, she was slated to be promoted to partner just before she learned she was pregnant. Her husband Jake and she wasn’t planning on having kids, both trying to focus on their jobs, but when she took a pregnancy test after a bout of morning sickness, they decided it was time to become parents. Clarke was born a month early and changed everything from the start. Clarke made her softer and helped with the rough patches in her marriage. Her blonde haired bundle of joy made her so happy and for a while, Abby Griffin had everything she ever wanted.

When she returned to work six months after having Clarke, it was a slap on the face to learn Kane, as she liked to call him, had already been made partner during her maternity leave. There was nothing she could do. She accepted the backstabbing, let it slide, swallowed her pride, worked as hard as she always had, pretending nothing changed. It would take her another six months to make partner.

She didn’t want to blame him; HR actions and management decisions were things that couldn’t be controlled. Yet when she reflected about her day while trying to put Clarke to sleep every night, her thoughts wandered to how hard she had worked and how Kane had known about her upcoming promotion and used her absence to get it himself. He had stolen a year from her career. Then she would look at the sleeping form of her baby and forget about her anger.

In hindsight, as she now tries to focus on the agreement she holds in her hands and fails because she is busy stealing yet another look at Marcus who hasn't looked up from his laptop, she is grateful for what happened since she got to spend a year with her baby and her husband before everything happened.

One night when she returned home having picked up Clarke from daycare after a long day at work, she was greeted by not her husband but by the police at the townhouse. Their house was trashed, her husband was sitting in the living room in handcuffs. Her endless questions were answered by a young cop in short sentences. Even as a lawyer, words like “embezzlement”, “larceny” and “forged documents” felt foreign to her, since they were used in the same context as her husband's job.

Before the end of the day, her husband was arrested and there was nothing she could do. With a crying Clarke in her arms, not knowing how to go on, she called Jaha, but when he didn’t respond, she tried her chance with Marcus Kane. He was at her house fifteen minutes later, picking up Clarke from her arms, comforting the baby and listening intently whatever Abby had to say.

Even with Kane’s help, there was nothing to keep Jake from prison. The evidence was stacked against her husband, clear as day. With Kane sitting next to her, she learned that her husband was someone she never really knew. He conned people, embezzled money and made profit. After two trials, he was imprisoned. After two months, she filed for divorce, not wanting to associate herself with someone who had taken other people’s money through illegal ways.

She was back to work a month later as a divorced, single-mother living in a small apartment, passionate about stopping people like her ex-husband taking advantage of the innocent. She also had a new understanding of Marcus Kane. He had helped her just because she asked, never wanting anything in return. There was a decent human-being lying underneath the stony exterior after all, someone she had seen briefly during their orientation. She tried to be more civil to him at work, but still stole his assistant Raven under his nose because she liked the girl.

There was a shift in their relationship after that. It was slow, almost at a glacial pace, but it resonated. They no longer butted heads at everything, trying to compromise instead. She didn’t disagree with everything he said at staff meetings. He took his time to explain his point of view when she was about to reject his budget requests as her duty as a partner of the firm. After almost a decade, they learned to work together and it made them stronger as partners of the firm.

He disappeared when his mother was killed in a car crash. The firm wasn't given much information, but she tried to find out as much as she could about what happened. Her friends at the hospital said that Vera Kane didn’t suffer and passed away on impact, for which Abby was grateful. She had met the woman a few times at the firm’s holiday parties and had a good impression of her. She was proud of her son and complained about how he didn’t have a significant other other than his mother because he worked so much. She was Kane's only living family.

When he didn’t show up at work the day after his month-long leave of absence ended, Abby decided to check up on him in person instead of the texts they exchanged. With a casserole in one arm and Clarke in the other, she showed up at his door. The man standing on the other side of the door did not resemble the man with impeccable suits and perfect hair. His hair was long and shaggy, his five-o'clock shadow was now a full beard, he was wearing some rock band’s faded t-shirt. He was surprised to see her at his door and Clarke was amazed by his beard.

She sat down in his living room and watched as Clarke babbled at him, seemingly cheering him up. He was mourning, having lost his last remaining family member and Abby just wanted to be a friend to him. So she opened up windows to let some air in, reheated the casserole, set up the dining table. She wanted to pick up the discarded clothes on the floor and maybe make his bed, but didn't want to cross any borders. She went back to the living room only to find Clarke asleep with her head on his lap and him looking down at her with a smile on his face. She smiled at the sight and placed a hesitant hand on his shoulder and squeezed. He looked up at her, giving her a look she didn’t see before on his face and nodded, what she assumed, in appreciation. She picked up Clarke and left. He was back at work the next day.

That was three years ago. Things have progresed only for the better in the last three years. Three years later, now, as she sits opposite to him at the meeting table, she wants to be his friend and take care of him again. As his friend and his partner at work, she gets on her feet and makes her way to him. He is so focused on the documents before him that he doesn’t notice her, not until she places her hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

“Marcus?” she whispers his name into the quiet of the office. He lifts his head and their eyes meet. He looks so tired, as weary as she feels. She wants to brush his hair away but she doesn't. There isn’t anything they can do with running on only coffee and a passion to further their case, to do the right thing. “Go home, Marcus.” she tells him. “I’m leaving now. My brain is mush now, yours must be, too.”

He doesn’t say anything, instead he follows her command in silence. He leaves his pen on the documents and closes his laptop. He reaches for his jacket, then gets on his feet. She takes in his wrinkled shirt, his beard, his weathered briefcase. With slow movements, he follows her out of the meeting room under the dimmed lights of the office to the elevator. She hits the button for the garage while he goes for the lobby. They stand in silence next to each other as the elevator descends.

She is so tired, she just wants to get in her bed and sleep until when she needs to pick up Clarke from her neighbor at noon. She places her head against the elevator panel and rests momentarily, until the ding announcing their arrival to the lobby. She hears Marcus shuffle next to her as the doors open. She watches as he makes his way out of the elevator in two steps, then turns and looks at her.

She looks at him, curious as to what he is waiting for. Because she is so tired, it takes a second longer for her brain to realize what is happening. Just as the doors are about to close, Marcus steps between them and places his briefcase to keep them open and then takes a step towards her. He stops right before her, looking right into her eyes then he cups her face with his large hands and the next second his lips are on hers.

They are soft, his lips, she thinks to herself, and the beard he kept after his mother died tickles her a bit. She lifts her arms to wrap them around him, meeting him in an embrace. She closes her eyes and enjoys the feel of him against her, the feeling of kissing someone new, but then as quickly as it happened, he breaks away the connection and steps outside. She is breathless as they stare at one another as the elevator doors finally close. When she is in her bed, she can't stop but think about his lips against hers.


	2. Chapter 2

A week ago she came to learn the truth that was hidden from her for years with secrecy. The moment the words slipped from her assistant Raven's mouth, when her paralegal Jackson gasped and bumped his elbow into the girl's side to keep her from talking, Abby's world shifted. It changed everything for her. It kept her awake at night, analyzing every moment she had with Marcus Kane. It made him appear in her dreams when sleep finally came, her imagination conjuring up images she longed to hold on to when she woke up. It made her burn dinner a couple of times, making Clarke playfully chide at her mother.

It all led her to staying up at night in the firm to work with him to find leverage to stop the hostile takeover but fail to focus on work because she kept staring at him, revisiting their entire history in her mind. And he kissed her.

As she lies in bed in her last free minutes before she has to get up and pick Clarke from her neighbor, she replays the scene all over again in her head. How Marcus made the elevator stop, how he stood before her, how he kissed her, how his lips felt. And how quickly he cut contact and left her just staring into space he just was at as the elevator's doors closed. Marcus Kane kissed her, that's all she thinks about and her analytical brain can't stop analyzing every tiny detail about it, looking for hints. Was it because they were both single people in a small confined space? Was it because of the late hour? Did he kiss her because she liked that she was taking care of him in her own way? Did he know she knew the truth?

She gets out of bed and takes a quick shower. She puts on her clothes and takes a bite of toast before she knocks the door of her downstairs neighbor. Clarke jumps to her arms as she thanks her neighbor Sinclair for going out of his way to look after her daughter, again. She makes a quick mental note of getting some sort of a gift basket for Sinclair and his family for looking after Clarke while she works overnight. She succeeds in not burning the food and enjoys brunch with her daughter who keeps telling tales of her night over pancakes and orange juice.

A phone call requiring her immediate presence at the office disturbs their brunch even though she is off for the day. She explains to Clarke that their plans to go to the zoo will take a rain check, then explains to her what a rain check is. Her daughter does not seem to be fazed, which is great news. Putting on work clothes and dressing Clarke in nicer clothes, they make it to her office together. She ignores the feelings she has as they step into the elevator where just several hours ago her colleague and business partner Marcus Kane kissed her and instead holds her daughter's hand as they ascend. 

She left the office hours ago to darkness and quiet, but now she finds it in a mode of somewhat chaos. All the partners and senior managers are in a shouting match by the elevators, not seeing her arrival. She bends down and picks her daughter up, holding her tightly against her chest to keep her calm and makes her way to her office. She finds Raven and Jackson hovering over by their desks, trying to see what is happening. They don't explain to her what is going on and instead Raven picks Clarke from her arms with promises of coloring with some new crayons.

Abby leaves her purse in office, takes a look at her daughter already doing her favorite activity and walks to where everyone is. She notices her boss Jaha standing next to the leader of the group trying to take over the firm with anger written on their faces with other junior partners still shouting. Then she sees him.

"What's going on?" she asks to nobody in particular as she takes a step closer to Marcus, who seems to be one of the willing members of the screaming match.

"Abby, sorry to disturb you on your leave day, but we needed you here." Jaha tells her while the men around her fall silent for a moment.

"No problem." she replies, trying to find her voice with the unwanted attention on her. "What happened?"

"Tell Kane to step down." Pike tells her without looking at her, his words pointed at the man who is now silent next to her. "He is making this too difficult."

She looks at Marcus who looks at her for a second, then lets out a frustrated groan. He runs a hand through his thick hair, then turns around on his feet. "Pike, I explained to you, there is another way to do this."

She is not exactly sure what is going on and her reading of the room fails her. Last time she checked, Jaha was on her side with Marcus, trying to prevent the hostile take over. Now as she looks around, she sees that something has changed and he is with Pike. She is with Marcus nevertheless. "Can you give us a second?" she asks to the group and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Marcus, come with me." she whispers and points him towards the direction of the empty meeting room opposite to them.

Sighing, with his shoulders drooped, he leads them to the room and she closes the door. She ignores the image in her mind of what happened the last time they were alone together and instead focuses on the task at hand. She watches as he paces the room in anger, then gives in. "I failed." His voice comes as a whimper as he slouches against the meeting table.

"What happened?" she asks as she walks and stops right before him.

He looks down and takes a moment before answering. "Jaha switched sides. He got all other partners with him, too. They are giving away the company," he says, not raising his head. "I wanted to help the firm, help our people."

She shakes her head at his attempt to blame himself before commenting. "Marcus, we did everything we could. Besides they can't just give away the firm like that, not without every partner agreeing." That prompts him to look up and meet her eyes. The sadness written over his face breaks her heart but she continues. "I'm with you, we are in this together."

"Abby, I can't ask you to do that."

She objects. "You aren't asking me to do anything, Marcus, I'm doing what I want."

He nods at her words, then his eyes drops to her lips. As if hearing what he is probably thinking, she also looks at his lips, the urge to place her lips on them stronger than ever, then remembers where they are and what they are up against. "Abby, I-"

Whatever he is about to say, she stops him. "Let's go and tell them what's going to happen." she says, then adds. "Then we'll talk."

They get out of the room together and head towards Jaha and the others. There is no more screaming and they look hopeful as Abby and Marcus stand before them side by side. "So, what's the verdict?" Pike asks. A businessman attempting to use legal jargon annoys Abby and from the little scoff he lets out, she can tell that Marcus feels the same.

"We object." Abby provides. "As partners of Ark, we can be against decisions the firm makes and no final decision can be made without the full agreement of all partners. Marcus and I refuse to give away the firm." She looks at Marcus and sees the look of pride on his face.

Nobody says a thing for a moment. Then Jaha says the thing they never expected and everything changes. "As owner and director of this firm, I, Thelonious Jaha, hereby dismiss you two from this firm. All agreed?" he calls out and all the other partners standing before them nod in approval. "All agreed, then. Marcus and Abby, thank you for your service. You have until the end of the business day to remove your belongings from the offices. We'll discuss with HR about a severance package." he tells them, then turns to Pike and others while Marcus and Abby stare at each other in shock. "Gentlemen, if you all agree, then we will go on with business as intended." he continues and everyone moves towards the direction of his office while the two of them are left standing behind.

She can't gather her thoughts for a moment. When she finally does, all she can say is "Well, that was unexpected."

That brings a laughter from Marcus, a noise she didn't expect at the moment. "That's one way of saying it."

"So what now?"

He turns towards her and looks down at her. "You heard the man, we need to pack our offices."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh, thank you so much for the warm welcome!!!
> 
> This was supposed to be only 2 chapters, but my feelings for these two caused me to be too wordy so there will be a third and final chapter. Hope you like it


	3. Chapter 3

It takes two bankers boxes to fill ten years of memories and work. She looks at the now empty office, takes in the view she was too busy to enjoy for a final time and steps out.  
  
Jackson picks up the boxes from her hands and takes them away. Raven who has always been too sarcastic to show genuine emotion refuses to make eye contact. Clarke insists that she looks at her drawing.  
  
She feels eyes on her as she takes her daughter in her arms and walks away from what used to be her office for five years. She keeps herself calm; she doesn't want to reflect the anger and the disappointment she feels on her face, giving away more to talk about to her former colleagues. Instead she walks to the office Marcus now vacated with her daughter with a blank expression. Clarke jumps in her arms when she sees Marcus and asks down. The moment she puts her daughter on her feet, she runs to him, pulling his leg for him to let her into his arms. Marcus seems a little surprised, but he opens his arms anyways and lifts Clarke off the ground. Her daughter gives him a tight hug, pressing herself into him, placing her head where his neck meet his shoulder while Marcus closes his eyes to enjoy the affection he is being given. The scene before her eyes makes Abby somewhat misty eyed, but she blames it on the conflicted emotions she is having over losing her job.

While Clarke is too busy telling Marcus her adventures in drawing and hanging out with her friends, Abby looks around to see that he has one box he packed on top of the now empty desk. She realizes that in the last ten years, she has entered his office only a number of times, she doesn't even remember what kind of decor he had and now she never will. For a moment it breaks her heart to think that the both of them worked for years for the same firm and all their hard-work fits into three boxes in total, but then she looks at Clarke playing with the beard Marcus still sports and forgets about it.    
  
She sees Marcus look at her over Clarke's shoulder. He sends a smile her way which she returns. Even though her perception of him changed significantly in the last week, ever since she learned the secret he tried so hard to keep, it still comes as a surprise when he is showing genuine affection towards her after almost a decade of hostility towards one another. Even after the kiss. As they stand in his empty office with her daughter in his arms about to leave their firm for good, she wants nothing but returning his affection. And as a first step, she invites him for dinner at the diner she frequents with Clarke near their apartment.  
  
"Are you sure? I don't want to impose." he tries to decline out of courtesy, as she expected.

She nods while Clarke also insists he eats with them. "They make the best pancakes. And milkshakes. And burgers. Mom's pancakes are better though. They are the bestest."

"I didn't know that I worked with a pancake master."

She tries not to blush under his teasing, instead makes a move towards him to pick up Clarke from his arms then motions him to pick his box. "I drove here, the car is downstairs."

The three of them make their way to the elevator where Jackson and Raven await them. Jackson mentions that he left the boxes by her car at the garage while Raven wordlessly walks towards her and hugs her and Clarke, then Marcus. None of their other colleagues, not even Thelanious drop by to say goodbye. It doesn't matter to her, though. She will remain friends with Raven and keep in touch with Jackson no matter what and the only other person she cares about is coming with her.

After the goodbye scene, Marcus places his hand on the small of her back, surprising her, and ushers her towards the elevator. She enjoys the brief feeling of warmth radiating from him. Only hours ago the two of them were alone in the same elevator, employed and working late and he had kissed her. Now, she holds her daughter while he holds his box and they are descending the floors to the underground garage to start their new lives as unemployed people. It amazes her how quickly life changes.

She places the boxes in the trunk while he settles Clarke in her seat and then they get in the car. It is strange to her to have him in her car, in the passenger seat, with her daughter in the back, with her driving the three of them for dinner. The two of them being in a car together was implausible up until a week ago. Yet somehow, as she exits the garage and avoids looking back at the building that used to be her place of employment, it doesn't feel strange at all. She feels comfortable around Marcus. And as she watches him from the corner of her eye changing the channels on the radio to finally settle on an old rock song she forgot the words to, she realizes that he feels comfortable, too.

She decides to leave her car at her apartment building's parking lot instead of looking for a spot by the diner. The three of them walk to the diner with Clarke insisting on holding both of their hands. She gets nervous for a moment to see if her daughter's actions are bothering Marcus, thinking that he must be not used to dealing with children. The last time Clarke had seen him was after his mother's death and her daughter is notorious for taking her time to warm up to people, but as she watches Marcus pat her daughter's blonde hair as they enter the diner a few minutes later, she sighs a breath of relief.

The three of them are seated to the booth Clarke and she frequents with her daughter sitting between them. It is awkward at first. Sure they had had food together before. They had spent that first week during orientation having lunch together every day. Then over the years, there were holiday parties and business meetings and a couple of staff retreats where food was shared. Now she is with her daughter and him at a family diner, sitting close to each other. She looks at the menu to get over her nervousness even though she knows what she wants, and when she looks at him, he looks equally nervous. They both laugh at the awkwardness of it all while Clarke continues drawing on the paper she was given between the two of them.

It is almost dinner time, but all three of them order pancakes after how much Clarke gushed about them even after Abby made pancakes for brunch for her daughter and herself. Even after finishing her entire plate, Clarke continues with her claim that her mother makes better pancakes.

"I guess I have to try them myself to compare." Marcus says, giving her a look laced with hesitance which she presumes is because he is flirting with her. Abby decides she likes it.

"I guess you have to." she tells him, challenging him. He almost chokes on his hot tea.

Clarke insists on having a milkshake, but knowing that her daughter will not sleep with so much sugar intake, she breaks it to her gently, promising for another time. Marcus asks for the bill and pays it despite her objections. Just before they are about to leave, her daughter hands the paper she was drawing on to Marcus, telling her it's a gift. Marcus takes the drawing and for a second Abby thinks he is about the cry. He looks so emotional and holds the drawing to his chest, then leans and places a soft kiss on her daughter's head and Clarke just giggles in return. He then shows the drawing to her. It's a stick drawing of three people. Abby can easily tell the short one in the middle is Clarke herself and Abby is on her right with her long brown hair. And on Clarke's left is Marcus, the beard giving him away. For a moment she can't look away from the drawing. When she meets his eyes, the look he gives to her is intense and stirs something inside of her.

Clarke yawns and the sound of her yawn breaks their eye contact. Abby takes it as a sign that she needs to take her daughter home, that she needs to empty her boxes and that she needs to start on a plan to figure out what to do with her sudden unemployment. When Marcus picks up her daughter from the booth into his arms and leads for the exit, she realizes that what she needs is to spend more time with the man who kissed her and whose secret she knows. She follows him out of the diner and they walk in silence.

Her daughter is asleep by the time they reach her apartment building. She considers her options. She can either pick up Clarke from his arms, waking her up unintentionally during the process and then spend hours trying to put her back to sleep. Or she can invite Marcus upstairs to put her daughter to bed. She opts for the latter.

They find themselves again in an elevator for the third time in less than twenty-four hours and she feels like the tension is back. Marcus holds the back of Clarke's head as they exit and make it towards her door. The sight of him being so gentle with her daughter brings out emotions she doesn't think she is ready to face but as she watches him sheepishly follow her inside her apartment, trying to take in everything, she knows that they are due for a conversation.

She shows him Clarke's bedroom and he carefully places her on the bed, then tucks her in. Abby had watched Jake for years with emotions bundling inside of her as he tucked their daughter into bed. She isn't sure if Clarke remembers any of it, but Jake had a ritual. He would talk to Clarke until she fell asleep, then would tuck the covers around her, pat her pillows and place a kiss on her forehead before leaving only a dim light on. Now standing against the door frame, she watches as Marcus does a similar thing, but then he starts singing a barely audible lullaby to her already sleeping daughter before patting her head. He watches her for about a minute, then gets on his feet and walks towards Abby in careful, quiet steps. She simply smiles at him, her heart already full. This is the Marcus Kane she imagined he would be when she first met him and the man she knew he still was after she learned his secret.

"I should get going" he says at the same time she asks "Coffee or tea?" 

They laugh again at the awkwardness, then he replies with a smile, "Tea is fine."

She motions him towards the living room while she goes to the kitchen to set up the kettle. She takes out two mugs and her wooden box for her collection of teas. When the water is boiled, she brings the tray with the mugs and the box to the coffee table and finds Marcus examining her bookcases. He turns around and gives her a nod and takes a seat opposite to her on the armchair she loves the most. He marvels at her tea collection and takes his time to go through the labels before choosing one. The sight of him in her living room being at ease warms her heart as much as the tea she favors.

"It feels strange, being unemployed."

Marcus nods in agreement. "I thought things would calm down when you showed up. I didn't expect they would fire us instead."

She sighs. "I didn't see that coming, I really didn't." She leans back on her seat.

"Here's to being fired," he raises his mug in toast.

She raises her mug and salutes, then takes a sip. "Why didn't you ever tell me that you almost quit the firm when they tried to make you partner while I was on maternity leave?" she asks at once, trying to be as direct as possible. She doesn't want any more tension between them, she wants the facts, to hear the truth from him.

Marcus seems taken aback by her question. He brings his mug to his mouth but doesn't take a sip, instead places it back on the coffee table. He sits straight and looks at her before responding. "I didn't know you knew that."

"I do. Raven told me... by mistake."

"Abby, I..." he starts, but doesn't continue for a moment. He takes his time to find the right words. "It was unfair, I tried to make it right. I failed."

He again attempts to blame himself, so she stops him. "Marcus, you didn't fail."

"I knew you were slated for the partnership and you deserved it." He looks away from her. "They offered it to me and I refused. They insisted on it and I handed in my resignation but they wouldn't accept," he adds, then continues. "Then my mother got sick and her insurance wasn't paying for expenses. I had the money, but she refused it. Then the firm offered me a package. My insurance would cover almost all of her medical expenses. I couldn't not take it. The insurance saved her life then, but she died at that car crash anyways." He finally looks at her. "It took you six more months to become partner because I took the offer."

"It's fine, it's in the past now," she admits. "I got the partnership eventually. You helped your mother and I had more time to spend with my daughter. It all worked in the end." She chuckles. "Well, not really. We both got fired."

He smiles at that, a big, genuine grin that she likes on him. "Yeah," he agrees.

"I'm gonna miss that elevator," she tells him cheekily then, trying to change the subject and start a conversation on the kiss that she would like more of. "You kissed me."

He lets out a nervous laugh and looks away. She keeps her eyes on him until he looks back at her. "I did," he finally says. "I'm sorry-"

"Marcus, don't you dare apologize," she interrupts him. "I wanted you to."

"Oh."

She smiles at him. "Yeah."

A shy smiles creeps on his face, making him somehow more attractive than he already is. "Can I be honest for a minute?" he asks and she nods in response. "I've wanted that for a while but never thought I'd be allowed to."

For a moment, she thinks about their past of competition and antagonism towards one another and mentally agrees on his statement. A week ago, she wouldn't have invited him to dinner, let alone let him kiss her. Her opinion about him changed after she learned what he did. Now they are both fired from their jobs with a shared kiss between them. She wants to discuss more, wants to clear the area, but then the events of the day finally take their toll on her. She beams at him while fighting off the urge to yawn. Her tiredness brings a bout of courage. Without breaking eye contact with him, she gets on her feet, walks to him and offers a hand. "I'm so tired, let's just go to bed," she offers. "We can talk in the morning over pancakes."

He takes her hand and stands, then follows her to her bedroom. He takes off his button-down shirt and pants, remaining in a plain undershirt and his boxers while she changes into her pajamas in her en suite bathroom. Seeing her in baggy clothes, he looks at her like she is very attractive, a look she never saw on him and a look she hasn't been on the receiving end since her divorce. It feels great.

She takes her side of the bed and gets under the covers. He looks at her in bed and gives her a warm smile. He hesitates, but a moment later, he joins her. His weight on the mattress and his warmth feel different than what she is used to, but she gets accustomed to it in an instance. She moves and gets closer to him under the covers. He places his arm around her shoulder, pulling her to him. She turns off the lamp closest to her and closes her eyes. Just before she falls asleep in his arms, she hears him say "I'm never letting go".

 

**The End**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when this was supposed to be a one-shot that I was going to write and finish a month ago before my paper was due? Yeah, since then it became a 3-chapter secret kid-fic with lots of feelings and I wrote another paper for grad school in the meantime. Whoops
> 
> Thank you all so much for taking the time to read and comment, this fandom is seriously the nicest!
> 
> I'm fulltimeprocrastinator on tumblr!

**Author's Note:**

> I sold my soul to this ship and instead of writing my paper for gradschool, I wrote this. This is my first time writing for these two that I love so much. Everyone seems super nice in this fandom, away from all the drama in the rest of the fandoms for the show, so I hope you all like this. There is a second part, coming when I am finished with my paper.


End file.
